My boyfriend's experience and thoughts : You will see this less and less in future generations. Old people tend to be racist (as they are in every country) but young people welcome multiculturalism (not all of them of course but the majority).

When I was still a kid the Chinese guy in our class was the Chinese guy. The Vietnamese girl was the Vietnamese girl and the black kid was the black kid. It was unusual, but now ? It's normal. Things change and you can't blame people for being a bit racist.

This.

In any country, you're likely to be viewed by your ethnicity.

I have a Japanese friend here in England, and just like I did, I refer to her as my Japanese friend. Is that racism or discrimination? No. She's Japanese and a friend.

I'll never see her as English, because she isn't. She is Japanese.

So I don't expect to be seen as Japanese when im in Japan. Does this mean they are racist and discriminatory against you? I dont think so.

She lives in England; ergo, she's English. Whether she's of Japanese descent or not makes no difference.

Ethnicity =/= nationality.

She's actually a foreign exchange student, studying here for a year. Therefore she does not have citizenship and is therefore not a British citizen. Ergo, her nationality is not British.

It's my fault, I should have been clearer in my description of my particular circumstance. If she had been born here, and her family had come over generations ago, then yes, I would consider her English :)

Well of course she is seen as Japanese, she's an exchange student ! You can't say that she is English, because she is not.

My boyfriend's experience and thoughts : You will see this less and less in future generations. Old people tend to be racist (as they are in every country) but young people welcome multiculturalism (not all of them of course but the majority).

When I was still a kid the Chinese guy in our class was the Chinese guy. The Vietnamese girl was the Vietnamese girl and the black kid was the black kid. It was unusual, but now ? It's normal. Things change and you can't blame people for being a bit racist.

This.

In any country, you're likely to be viewed by your ethnicity.

I have a Japanese friend here in England, and just like I did, I refer to her as my Japanese friend. Is that racism or discrimination? No. She's Japanese and a friend.

I'll never see her as English, because she isn't. She is Japanese.

So I don't expect to be seen as Japanese when im in Japan. Does this mean they are racist and discriminatory against you? I dont think so.

She lives in England; ergo, she's English. Whether she's of Japanese descent or not makes no difference.

Ethnicity =/= nationality.

She's actually a foreign exchange student, studying here for a year. Therefore she does not have citizenship and is therefore not a British citizen. Ergo, her nationality is not British.

It's my fault, I should have been clearer in my description of my particular circumstance. If she had been born here, and her family had come over generations ago, then yes, I would consider her English :)

Well of course she is seen as Japanese, she's an exchange student ! You can't say that she is English, because she is not.

Only basing this on my personal experience and the experience of other non-Asians I know that lived there - it's 100% true. That may change in the future but even if you become a citizen by marriage or whatever, you will always be seen as a foreigner.

I lived in Japan for 17 years, married, had a kid, and spoke fairly well japanese. When people look at me, they assumed i was 1/2 Japanese, but i was always the foreigner. I don't regret that, sometimes it's nice to stand out. My close friends still treated me as a friend, and forgave me my screw ups when i didn't act like a japanese. On the other hand, I had japanese friends who spend a lot of time overseas, and when they came back to japan, they said that japanese people don't treat them as japanese anymore. it really frustrated them. on one hand, they were envied for being able to go overseas, on the other, they were considered almost as outcast

Being a foreigner in Japan isnt that much different than being ginger in western countries. I lived in Japan for over a year and never encountered any hostility, Ive had way way more trouble in the UK.

Reminds me of this article:
(WARNING: The article mentions some inappropriate things and has some bad humor at times. Don't click if you don't want to see it.)
http://injapan.gaijinpot.com/play/culture/2013/01/18/whos-really-japanese/

I want to study abroad or visit Japan in the next couple years. I accept that as a very fair/pale skinned guy with long blonde hair and blue eyes I'll neer be seen as a Japanese person no matter how long I stay. Japan is about conformity but physically I'll never be able to so why sweat it. It doesn't mean you can't make close friends. They'll just treat you differently because no offense you are diferent. Even if I could flawlessly speak Japanese and adopt their culture to be accepted as Japanese I wouldn't want to. Their cultures different not better so if I cannot conform to the customs I don't like and be excused for it because I'm a foriegner all the better for me. There is stuff in Japan I won't be able to do as a foriegner but I'd rather accept it and move on.

Ever seen Nihonjin no shiranai Nihongo? I feel that's how Japanese view foreigners. Depending on where you are and what generation you're dealing with you'll get various reactions of discrimination, curiosity, and acceptance.

Japan has and will stick to tradition for a long time, so acceptance is a bit slower.

I want to visit Japan, but I doubt I'd want to live there. It looks beautiful. I consider my study of Japan (culture, language, etc.) to be a passionate hobby (everyone needs one, right?) but I've no delusions of life there being perfect.

And like I said, there are too many variables to give a valid opinion - if you hit the heavy tourist areas you'll probably have a much higher acceptance rate than places that rarely see people. Obviously they want to be courteous to their guests and encourage a strong flow of business.

I've heard various stories of extreme politeness to down right fear and avoidance of foreigners...so it's a toss up.

I wish I could have a conversation with you, and know in what way to travel and have a prosperous life in Japan. Despite this thread's topic, I genuinely feel like an outsider in my own country. I wonder if its worth living my life in a country where people do not respect me, nor do they care to interact with me whatsoever. I am a Hispanic, living in the US with citizenship. I am 20 years old. I love meeting others, and sharing my life with those important to me, I understand how precious life is. But even at a young age, I had the rough end of the stick. There is nothing wrong with my appearance, sure I think differently, but I remain an out cast. No matter the route, I am always reminded that the culture around me takes away my opportunities to progress as an individual.

Ill stop there since I dont feel it would be justice to you if a complete stranger just rambled on about his life.

There will always be some sort of an "outsider" feeling from people, but I haven't seen too much of negative thoughts while I visited Japan. The only foreigner conflict I saw there was this white dude (for some reason, the Japanese youth seems to love white people) was apparently attracting some Japanese chick and her boyfriend started talking trash about the U.S. Unfortunately, the American thought it was smart to act tough and pwn the Japanese dude and got sent back to the U.S.

Oh well. I'm Korean and I made tons of friends in Japan.. It was really fun, we couldn't understand each other but a lot of the girls got excited when I told them with iTranslate that I watch anime too.

NOEXE I don't think you have to worry about that for much longer since that in the next few years Hispanics will be the majority in the U.S.

I think we'll have assimilated them before then, like we've done with the Irish, Germans, English, etc. The Asians still resist but they are losing the fight.

We are the Americans. Existence as you know it is over. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Resistance is futile.

In actuality Asians are fighting for recognition as American and are encountering resistance from "mainstream" Americans in terms of acknowledgment. Just go to any FIND meeting. There's currently no such thing as Asian-American culture on the same level as White or Black American culture. If you're asian and live in the U.S. you can be described personality-wise as trying to be white, trying to be black, or you're a FOB.

I'm asian and a US citizen but ironically I'm more accepted as an american in Japan than in the U.S.
Typical first conversation
In Japan:
"Where are you from?"
"America"
"Oh Cool!"

U.S.A.:
"Where are you from?"
"America"
"No, I mean, like, where are you from?"
"America"
"No, I mean, like, where did your parents come from?"

I prefer living in Japan because if I'm going to be considered an outsider I'd rather at least actually be an outsider.